Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Commons^™

Biostride - Prosthetic Charging Stand, Abigael Howard, Brett Matich, Allie Mcauliffe, Liam Harwood

Biomedical Engineering

This Final Report outlines the development of a lower limb prosthetic docking and charging station to address a critical need for individuals with unilateral transfemoral amputations who use microprocessor-controlled prosthetics. This project is focused on designing and producing a secure, accessible, and aesthetically pleasing stand to store and charge prosthetic limbs overnight, targeting the lack of commercially available, functional prosthetic storage. The absence of a functional storage solution points to a failure in meaningfully addressing the human needs of prosthetics users, exacerbating user frustration through the perpetuation of issues including prosthetics falling over into inaccessible positions, and tripping hazards due …

Intraoperative Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced Fluorescence Imaging For Navigating Open Orthopedic Surgeries, Yue Tang

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

Infection following trauma is one of the most prevalent and challenging complications faced by orthopedic surgeons. Inadequate tissue perfusion plays a critical role in this complication, as poorly perfused bone can be a nidus for bacterial biofilm formation and promote resistance to antibiotic treatments. Consequently, the management of open fractures and fracture-related infections relies on aggressive and thorough debridement to remove all poorly perfused bone. This thesis focuses on developing an indocyanine green (ICG)-based dynamic contrast-enhanced fluorescence imaging (DCE-FI) to objectively measure bone perfusion during open orthopedic surgeries and guide surgical debridement of devitalized bone.

Novel methodologies were developed to …

Emergency Bleeding Education Fixture, Nate Colley, Kennedy K. Austin

Biomedical Engineering: Graduate Reports and Projects

Despite the deadly nature and widespread occurrence of emergency bleeding events, there are currently no training devices or demonstrations which educate users on the urgency of these events and potential methods to address them. Additionally, current models often fail to replicate physiological conditions correctly. A fixture was created to demonstrate the urgency of hemorrhaging events and educate users on potential methods for treating hemorrhaging, namely tourniquets and pressure wraps. This fixture utilized gravity to replicate systolic blood pressure, a silicone model to replicate various adult leg sizes and correct tissue properties, and a tubing system with varying compliance to replicate …

Ray Collection: Forging A New Fashion Genre, Olivia R. Cooper

Graphic Communication

This senior project addresses a gap in the fashion industry by creating a new genre through a unique collection and comprehensive branding. The "RAY" collection draws inspiration from the designer's artistic roots and is a deeply personal homage to influential female artists like Frida Kahlo, Louise Bourgeois, and Leonora Carrington, whose works have inspired the designer's creative journey. Each piece in the collection draws direct inspiration from these artists, reflecting the creator's vision and self-expression, a key element of the streetwear genre incorporated into the designs.

The project also heavily emphasizes fashion branding, encompassing a logo, brand identity, social and …

Hands-Free Balance Protocol And Development Of An Iphone App For Self-Assessment, Jacob Matties

Master's Theses

For many clinical populations, the measurement of balance is a critical task. Previous studies have agreed that smartphone IMUs provide a valid measure of balance that can be significantly correlated with force plate measurements and is sensitive enough to distinguish between various balance poses, but many balance assessment protocols require uncommon equipment or the use of hands during assessment. These limit accessibility of balance assessment. To eliminate the need for hands or any additional equipment, this study assessed the use of a smartphone recording the root mean square of 3D acceleration magnitude. The goal of the study was to determine …

Childhood Neuroanatomical Markers Of Familial And Nonfamilial Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Rahman Baboli

Dissertations

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a highly prevalent neurodevelopmental disorder, characterized by developmentally inappropriate levels of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. Children with family history of ADHD are at an elevated risk of having ADHD as well as a higher risk of persistent ADHD into adulthood, reflecting a source of etiological heterogeneity in ADHD. This heterogeneity in terms of both biological and environmental risk factors may explain differences in neural correlates, outcomes, cognitive, behavioral as well as developmental trajectories. It is therefore critical to understand the influence of having, or not having positive family risk factors on the neuroanatomical structures of the …

The Interplay Of Accommodation And Oculomotor Vergence Within Young Adults With Binocularly Normal Vision And Typically-Occurring Convergence Insufficiency, Sebastian Fine

Dissertations

Concerted binocular coordination evoking oculomotor and refractive responses to visual stimuli are essential to daily function. Oculomotor dysfunctions can inhibit binocular responses to visually-near stimuli and have high comorbidities to accommodative dysfunctions. Three visual cues for inward (convergent) and outward (divergent) oculomotor movements, when presented concertedly create natural-viewing conditions: disparity- the binocular difference in light cast onto the fovea due to differing ocular perspectives, blur- the acuity of a visual target which stimulates accommodation, and proximal- the perceived distance of a visual stimuli based on size.

This study aims to quantitatively investigate oculomotor vergence and accommodation performances between individuals with …

Modulation Of Cerebellar Cells By Transcranial Ac Stimulation In Anesthetized Rats, Qi Kang

Dissertations

Noninvasive brain stimulation (NIBS) is increasingly utilized in clinical trials for the treatment of neurological disorders. Each NIBS technique offers distinct advantages. Transcranial electrical stimulation (tES) is easy to apply and requires only simple equipment, while transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) can penetrate deeper than tES into the brain and it is more focal. Transcranial focused ultrasound stimulation (FUS) is superior to both in terms of penetration and focal stimulation. This study focuses on the modulation of the cerebellum, traditionally believed to be associated with motor coordination but increasingly recognized for its role in cognition and emotion as well. While tES …

A Joint Geometric Topological Analysis Network (Jgta-Net) For Detecting And Segmenting Intracranial Aneurysms, Xinyue Zhang, Zonghan Lyu, Yang Wang, Bo Peng, Jingfeng Jiang

Michigan Tech Publications

Objective: The rupture of intracranial aneurysms leads to subarachnoid hemorrhage. Detecting intracranial aneurysms before rupture and stratifying their risk is critical in guiding preventive measures. Point-based aneurysm segmentation provides a plausible pathway for automatic aneurysm detection. However, challenges in existing segmentation methods motivate the proposed work. Methods: We propose a dual-branch network model (JGTANet) for accurately detecting aneurysms. JGTA-Net employs a hierarchical geometric feature learning framework to extract local contextual geometric information from the point cloud representing intracranial vessels. Building on this, we integrated a topological analysis module that leverages persistent homology to capture complex structural details of 3D objects, …

Skin Cancer Diagnosis Utilizing Hybrid Discrete Cosine Transform And High-Performance Convolutional Neural Networks, Mohammed M. Abo-Zahhad, Mohammed Abo-Zahhad

Mansoura Engineering Journal

Detecting skin cancer early and accurately is crucial for successfully treating this potentially fatal disease. Enhancing the accuracy of visual inspection techniques is often necessary to improve clinical decision-making and increase the chance of successful treatment outcomes. In this research, high-performance deep learning (DL) models for automated skin cancer categorization and early skin cancer diagnosis screening are developed and evaluated in conjunction with the discrete cosine transform (DCT). For this purpose, features are extracted from medical images using both techniques. The DCT is used for feature extraction and dimensionality reduction, while deep learning (DL) trains fully connected models for classification …

Engineering The Immune Response To Biomaterials, Abolfazl Salehi Moghaddam, Mehran Bahrami, Einollah Sarikhani, Rumeysa Tutar, Yavuz Nuri Ertas, Faleh Tamimi, Ali Hedayatnia, Clotilde Jugie, Houman Savoji, Asma Talib Qureshi, Muhammad Rizwan, Chima V. Maduka, Nureddin Ashammakhi

Michigan Tech Publications

Biomaterials are increasingly used as implants in the body, but they often elicit tissue reactions due to the immune system recognizing them as foreign bodies. These reactions typically involve the activation of innate immunity and the initiation of an inflammatory response, which can persist as chronic inflammation, causing implant failure. To reduce these risks, various strategies have been developed to modify the material composition, surface characteristics, or mechanical properties of biomaterials. Moreover, bioactive materials have emerged as a new class of biomaterials that can induce desirable tissue responses and form a strong bond between the implant and the host tissue. …

Predicting Seizure Onset Zones From Interictal Intracranial Eeg Using Functional Connectivity And Machine Learning, Jared Pilet, Scott A. Beardsley, Chad Carlson, Christopher T. Anderson, Candida Ustine, Sean Lew, Wade Mueller, Manoj Raghavan

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Functional connectivity (FC) analyses of intracranial EEG (iEEG) signals can potentially improve the mapping of epileptic networks in drug-resistant focal epilepsy. However, it remains unclear whether FC-based metrics provide additional value beyond established epilepsy biomarkers such as epileptic spikes and high-frequency oscillations (HFOs). Using interictal iEEG data from 26 patients, we estimated FC across eight frequency bands (4–290 Hz) using amplitude envelope correlation (AEC) and phase locking value (PLV). From the resulting FC-matrices, we estimated two graph metrics each to derive 32 FC-based features. We also extracted features related to spikes, HFOs, and power spectral densities (PSD). A trained support …

Development Of A Light-Based Platform To Assess Cervical Mucus Barrier Function And Physical Mucus Properties, Elizabeth J. Buzbee

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Preterm birth is the leading cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality worldwide, yet current clinical tools for predicting its risk lack specificity and reliability. Cervical mucus plays a crucial role in maintaining pregnancy by forming a barrier that protects the uterus against infection. This study investigates the use of laser speckle rheology as a noninvasive technique to assess cervical mucus biomechanics. Synthetic cervical mucus was fabricated at varying hydration levels and tested using a conventional rheometer that confirmed that the mechanical properties of the synthetic mucus samples were representative of physiological cervical mucus. These results were compared to the complex …

Impact Of Prior Exposures On Biomarkers Of Blast During Military Tactical Training, Zhaoyu Wang, Shengnan Sun, Alis Aksar Kranfli, Jeffrey Nemes, Molly J. Sullan, Andrew J. Hoisington, Lisa A. Brenner, Miciej Skotak, Christina R. Lavalle, Yongchao Ge, Walter Carr, Fatemah Haghighi

Faculty Publications

Blast injuries and subclinical effects are of significant concern among those Service Members (SMs) participating in military operations and tactical trainings. Studies of SMs repeatedly exposed during training find concussion-like symptomology with transient decrements in neurocognitive performance, and alterations in blood biomarkers. How prior mild TBI (mTBI) history interacts with low-level blast (LLB) exposure, however, remains unexplored, which we investigate in the present study, to identify interindividual biomarker changes from LLB exposures influenced by prior history of mTBI.

Direct Computations Of Spatially Resolved Viscoelastic Moduli Of Biomolecular Condensates, Liwen Gu

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Biomolecular condensates are viscoelastic materials formed by liquid-liquid phase separations (LLPS) of biopolymers. In this study, we develop a modified graph Laplacian-based collective model to characterize viscoelastic heterogeneity within condensates based on results of lattice-based Metropolis Monte Carlo (MMC) simulations. By integrating random graph models and simulations of A1-LCD, a type of intrinsically disordered protein, we examine how network topology influences storage modulus, loss modulus, crossover frequency, and relaxation time spectra. Our results reveal a strong correlation between topological features and mechanical response, with the condensate interior exhibiting higher stiffness and faster relaxation than the interface. The relaxation spectra provide …

American Football Internal Helmet Padding Material And Design Testing, Spencer J. Pigman

Honors Thesis

Football helmets have evolved significantly to improve player safety and reduce the risk of concussions and traumatic brain injuries. Early leather designs offered minimal protection, while modern helmets use advanced materials to absorb and distribute impact forces more effectively. To support ongoing helmet safety research, a custom 3D-printed headform modeled from a human scan was equipped with a WitMotion BWT901BLECL5.0 accelerometer and used in controlled drop tests. The study evaluated various internal padding materials including spray foam, two sizes of bubble wrap, Oobleck, scrub sponges, KTOESHEO foam, Hijelyn air pillows, and the standard padding from a Riddell Victor youth helmet. …

Multi-Modal Mri For The Pre-Clinical Evaluation Of Hiv-Linked Changes In The Central Nervous System, Gabriel Gauthier

Theses & Dissertations

Though the inception of anti-retroviral therapy (ART) has fundamentally changed the life expectancy of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) patients, accessibility and outcomes vary enormously along demographic lines. Even for people living with HIV (PLWH) with perfect access and adherence to anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs), modern treatment plans are fundamentally unable to secure complete viral remission for patients. The cause of this perpetual infection is the persistence of viral reservoirs in the central nervous system (CNS), hidden beyond the reach of modern ARVs, leaving patients to deal with lifelong medication side-effects and risks of developing HIV-associated neurodegenerative disorders (HAND). Despite improving outcomes …

Opmed Seal: Engineering A Rapid-Response Biodegradable Device For Hemorrhage Control And Infection Prevention In Abdominal Trauma, Paula M. Cabrera, Wesley Stephen Murphy

Honors Theses

Abdominal gunshot wounds are amongst the deadliest injuries encountered in combat and remote emergency settings. For military medics and first responders, the challenge lies in controlling internal bleeding and preventing infection before patients can reach surgical care-often within a narrow window of time known as the “golden hour”. Currently available field treatments are either too slow, not designed for internal wounds, or fail to provide antimicrobial protection. To address this gap, our team developed OpMed Seal: a compact, dual-syringe delivery system that deploys a biodegradable, antibiotic-infused hydrogel directly into abdominal injuries. The system is designed for rapid hemorrhage control, localized …

Alterations And Improvements Of The Photoacoustic Flow Cytometry Method, Nicholas J. Taylor

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The emergence and proliferation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria present a significant and growing challenge to global public health, with the potential to render many existing antibiotics ineffective. Infections caused by these resistant pathogens are difficult to treat, resulting in higher morbidity, mortality, and healthcare costs. A major obstacle in combating these infections is the slow pace of traditional diagnostic methods, such as blood cultures, which typically take 2-3 days to identify the causative bacteria and determine their antibiotic resistance profiles. This delay in diagnosis hinders timely interventions and appropriate treatment, further contributing to the spread of resistant infections. As such, there …

Design And Development Of A Stethoscope Attachment For Instant Heart Murmur Detection, Caitlin K. Cherwin, Dillon Desai

Honors Theses

Heart murmurs are critical indicators of potential cardiovascular conditions yet their detection can often go unnoticed due limitations in equipment and is dependent on clinician experience. Cardiovascular disease remains a leading cause of death worldwide, therefore, early detection of heart murmurs play a crucial role in improving patient outcomes. Many established methods of detection are expensive and often unreliable allowing there to be room for a device which is more cost and result effective. This paper presents the development of a device that attaches onto a regular stethoscope and analyzes auscultatory sounds to diagnose the possibility of a present murmur. …